Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan Says the People Who Run the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Are ‘Bloody Arrogant and Rude’

After years of having been snubbed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Deep Purple are again among this year's crop of nominees. However, that doesn't make singer Ian Gillan think any more highly of them. In a new interview, he lashed out at those who are behind the process of determining what should and shouldn't go in the Hall.

“I have no respect for them," he told Classic Rock. "They’re the kind of people that, having seen A Hard Day’s Night, decided that the Monkees would be America’s equivalent to the Beatles. They’ve no idea what goes on in the big, wide world outside of their self-arbitrating surroundings."

As he sees it, the people on the Hall's Executive Commitee have never given Deep Purple their due respect, and in some cases, not even realizing that they continued to have platinum-selling albums well into the third decade of their career.

“To me, those people are bloody arrogant and rude," he continued. "I’ve heard that somebody on their committee dismissed us as one-hit wonders. I couldn’t figure out whether that hit was 'Hush,' 'Kentucky Woman,' 'Black Night,' 'Strange Kind of Woman,' 'Child in Time,' 'Perfect Strangers,' 'Knocking at Your Back Door' or perhaps even 'Smoke on the Water.'"

This is the third time in four years that Deep Purple have made it onto the ballot, even though they were first eligible for inclusion in 1993. They've long been championed for inclusion by the generations of hard rock and metal musicians who grew up listening to their records, a fact that's not lost on Gillan.

"I’m very grateful for the other bands and artists that stood up for us with a view to our induction," he continued. "That’s nice of them. But I wish that the Hall of Fame had had the discretion to ask us first. It’s now become a debate in which we are too late to have the final word."

So if they're voted in, will they refuse induction, like several others have done? Gillan didn't say. But regardless he's not too thrilled with the idea right now.

“I’m sure that my mum would have been pleased and it all sounds very grand," he said, "but just take a look at who’s in it. I once wrote a song called 'No Laughing in Heaven' which was about not wanting to go to heaven due to the company I’d be keeping, and with a few exceptions, the Hall of Fame is pretty much the same thing.”

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